Method of making corrugated cartons and blanks therefor



June 16, 1964 c. l. ELLIOTT 3,137,217

METHOD OF MAKING CORRUGATED CARTONS AND BLANKS THEREFOR Filed Feb. 12, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. Charles I. Ellioff 31 g e i ATTORNEY C. I. ELLIOTT June 16, 1964 METHOD OF MAKING CORRUGATED CARTONS AND BLANKS THEREFOR 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 12, 1965 INVENTQR. Charles I. FZZZO June 16, 1964 c. l. ELLIOTT 3,137,217

METHOD OF MAKING CORRUGATED CARTONS AND BLANKS THEREFOR Filed Feb. 12, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. Charles I. Ellzoff 4M ATTORNEY June 16,

C. l. ELLIOTT METHOD OF MAKING CORRUGATED CARTONS AND BLANKS THEREFOR Filed Feb. 12, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 i i 9 p! 59 i 404 "'"i T' 38 38 l I I Fig. /5

Fig. [6 F 9- 7 7 INVENTOR.

Charles I. lll'off AL ATTORNEY June 16, 1964 c. 1. ELLIOTT 3,137,217

METHOD OF MAKING CORRUGATED CARTONS AND BLANKS THEREFOR Filed Feb. 12, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INV EN TOR. Charles 1. 5111 0 f2 ha-M M LM ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,137,217 IVETHOD OF MAKING CORRUGATED CARTONS AND BLANKS TI-EREFOR Charles I. Elliott, Sea Girt, N..l., assignor to Charles I. Elliott Corporation, Newark, Del., a corporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 12, 1963, Ser. No. 257,914 Claims. (Cl. 93-36) and slots the boardin line. with creases; After three or four such operations, between which the board is advanced in accordance with the dimension of the panels of the box to be produced, the board is cut off and the creased and slotted blank may then be formed into box form in a conventional manner.

Machines required for this purpose are large, heavy and expensive, hence generally out of reach of a small packaging firm. Also themachines require relatively involved resetting whenchanging from one box size to another.

The use of filler materials in oversize boxes is uneconomical, and is unsatisfactory where relatively heavy parts, such as machine parts, must be prevented from shifting inside the box as a result of compression of the filler material.

The present invention provides an improved method of making individually, dimensioned boxes from tubularstock of double faced corrugated board, i.e., board composed of a corrugated central core ply and two substantially flat face plies. i t a v The corrugated boardis prefabricated into tubular shape comprising a seam in line with the corrugations; The seam may either be butted and taped, overlapped and stitched or glued, or taped at a collapsing line.

The board of the tube is folded upon itself either along two collapsing fold lines, in which event the seam lies between the fold lines, or adjacent one of thefold lines, or theboard is foldedupon itself along one collapsing fold line, the opposite lateral edge of the tube being formed by the two lateral cut edges of the board lying in register and a tape attached to the board adjacent the edges, the tape being folded into U shape. and representing the second collapsing fold line.

Tubular starting material for the present method may be stocked in considerable lengths, the limit being set by the ability of the operator to handle it to cut off pieces, each piece to form one box and varying in length according to the length of the box to be produced.

- Tubular starting material is stocked in a range of widths so as to enable the operator to produce boxes of small or large circumference, circumference being measured about the wall panels of the box.

The present method involves principally the performance of four creasing and slitting operations, one at each corner of the fiat collapsed tubular unslotted and uncreased blank. The four operations are identical and each operation involves the slotting of the double thickness material, thus producing two slotsat once, and the impressing of creasing rules into the material from opposite sides so that the top and the bottom thickness of the starting material are creased simultaneously.

, 3,137,217 Patented June 16, 1964 The performance of the four operations involves turning the double thickness starting material over, side to side, as well as end to end.

Rotating of box blanks end to end is a step known per se in connection with the cutting and creasing of very large box blanks, too large to warrant the construction of a conventional cutting and creasing die for making a box blank in one operation. According to the known procedure, one-half of the blank is cut and creased first and after rotating the blank, the opposite end is inserted into the otherwise conventional cutting and creasing die to form the opposite and identically shaped end of the blank. The resultant box is of necessity a square bottom box.

The present invention permits the production of boxes of square as well as rectangular cross section and of any desired length or height. The top and bottom of the boxes may be formed to provide an overlapped closure suitable for stitching, a butted closure suitable for taping, or may even be formed with a central rectangular aperture, the latter form of closure usually involving stitching.

The various objects, features and advantages of this invention will appear more fully from the detailed description which follows accompanied by drawings showing, for the purpose of illustration, a preferred manner in which the invention will be carried out. The invention also resides in certain new and original features of construction, combination of elements, steps, and sequences of steps, as hereinafter set forth and claimed.

Although the characteristic features of this invention which are believed to be novel will be particularly pointed out in the claims appended .hereto, the invention itself, its objects and advantages, and the manner in which it may be carried out will better understood by referring to the following description in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part of it, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of tubular collapsed fiat corrugated starting material from which a blank may be formed;

FIGS. 2 to 5 are cross sectional views illustrating different ways of folding and securing together corrugated folding board to form the tubular startingmaterial, FIG.

2 being a section taken on line 2.2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a portion of the end edge of the blank shown in FIG. 8, the view being taken on line 6-6;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating the manner of creasing the board;

FIGS. 8 to 11 are perspective views illustrating a sequence of steps of creasing and notching a carton blank embodying the invention;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the blank shown in FIG. 11 after expansion of the blank into hollow tubular shape;

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of a closed carton resulting from the blank of FIG. 12;

FIGS. 14 and 15 illustrate in end view optional forms of end closing of the carton; and

FIGS. 16 and 17 are plan views of the top and bottom portion of a creasing and slotting device which may be used in practicing the invention.

In the following description and in the claims various details will be identified by specific names for convenience. The names, however, are intended to be generic in their application. Corresponding reference characters refer to corresponding elements in the several figures of the drawings.

The drawings accompanying, and forming part of, this specification disclose certain specific details for the purpose of explanation of broader aspects of the invention,

but it should be understood that details may be modified in various respects without departure from the principles of the invention and that the invention may be incorporated in other structural forms than shown.

The manufacture of a corrugated carton starts with the selection of a length 11 of tubular material (FIG. I) of appropriate width w from which a piece 12 of the desired length 1 is cut by a straight cut 13 extending across the collapsed tube. and one side wall or, taking into consideration the peculiar way in which the box is formed, it may be stated that the width w of the piece 12 is equal to the width of the top panel of the resulting box plus twice the width of onehalf of the side wall panel (FIG. 11). v

The length 1 of the uncreased blank 12 yields the length of the box plus the length of the required end panels which may overlap, abut, or fail to abut, as will later be seen.

The tubular starting material may be folded twice upon itself along lateral fold lines 14, 15 and joined centrally by a tape 16, as shown in FIG. 2. The board may also be centrally overlapped as shown at 17 in FIG. 3, the overlapping portions being connected by gluing or stitchmg.

The overlapped seam may also be located off center, forexample close to one of the lateral fold lines, as shown at 17 in FIG. 4.

till another way of completing the tubular structure is to fold the board upon itself once and interconnect the opposite edges by a tape 16 as shown in FIG. 5.

As shown more particularly in FIG. 6, the corrugations of the core ply 18 of the board extend in the direction of thelateral fold lines 14, 15 and face plies 19 and 20 represent the outer smooth surfaces of the board.

In order to permit the board to be folded, creasing rules press concave indentations into-the board from opposite surfaces by application of suitable forces F and F Both thicknesses of the board are creased simultaneously and identically.

The manner of creasing and simultaneously slitting the uncreased double thickness blank is shown in FIGS. 9-11 and takes place in four successive steps. Preferably a slitting and creasing mechanism is employed shown in its basic outline in FIGS. 16 and 17. f FIG. 17 shows a lower die plate to which male creasing rules are secured in any conventional manner. The creasing rules are in the outline of a T. The rules 26, 27 forming the head of the T are designed to crease the board in a direction at right angles to the corrugations and a further male creasing rule'extends at right angles to the rules 26, 27, represents the stem of the T, and lies in line with the corrugations of the board to be creased.

A female slotting or notching die 29 extends in line with the stem of the T beyond the head of the T. 7 Adjustable stops 30 and 31 are mounted parallel to the rules 26, 27 and 28, respectively, and are for simplicity shown to be adjustable by wing nuts 32.

The upper die plate 33 is-shown in FIG. 16 and carries corresponding male creasing rules identified by primed reference numerals 26, 27 representing the head of the T, and- 28 forming the stem of the T. A male slotting knife 34 on the die plate 33 cooperateswith, and fits, the female notching die 29 and is stepped or serrated at its face '35, as is common practice. 7

It is evident that the lower die plate 25 is shown in plan view and that the upper die plate 33 is shown inverted. Suitable guides (not shown) are provided to guide the upper die plate 33- for movement towards and away from the lower plate 25 while maintaining the creasing and slotting elements in accurate register.

Returning now to FIG. 1, the uncreased .blank 12 is The dimension w yields one top wall.

inserted between the creasing and slotting elements with one of its corners and after performance of the first creasing and slotting step assumes the shape shown in FIG. 8. The transverse crease 126, 127 extends from the lateral fold line 14 part way across the blank. The longitudinal crease 128 extends from the upper cut end of the blank and terminates at a distance from the opposite cut end of the blank, the length of the crease'being determined by the length of the creasing elements 28, 28'. The stops 30, 31 of the die are set so as to put the creases into the proper location.

As will be seen from the following description, the distance of the stop 31 from the rule 28 is equal to onehalf of the height of the side wall panel. The distance of the stop 30 from the rule 27 is equal to the length of the closure flap of the box about to be made.

The slotting elements 29, 34 are of sufiicient length to slot or notch the blank from the head of the T to its out edge.

The blank 12 of FIG. 8 is then turned over side-to-side and creased and slotted a second time, after which it has the appearance shown in FIG. 9.

The blank. of FIG. 9 may then be rotated or turned over end to end to perform similar creasing and notching operations at the opposite end. FIG. 10 shows the blank of FIG. 9 after rotation and performance of the third creasing and notching operation. The blank has now three notches 134. I

The blank 12 of FIG. 10 is finally turned over side-toside to performthe fourth creasing and notching operation, the result being shown in FIG. 11.

Assuming a blank of very large size is to be produced in which the creases 127 and 128 of successive creasing operations do. not overlap, so as to leave an uncreased central portion between the ends of creases 127 and 128,

experience has shown that such uncreased portions crease readily when the box is being formed and closed as the impressed creases sufficiently weaken the board.

The blank is now readily for squaring, as shown in FIG. 12. During the squaring operation the tubular blank is expanded and the side wall portions 36 and 3'7 of the blank are flattened along the lateral fold lines 14 and 15.

One end of the squared blank is then closed in a conventional manner, the box is filled, whereafter the opposite end is closed. The inner end wall panels 38 are in folded first and the outer end wall panels 39 are folded thereover and secured in any conventional manner, such as taping, gluing, stapling. I

FIG. 1 shows in elevation a box end in which the outer end panels 39 are extra long and overlap by a margin 40. FIG. 15 shows a box end in which the outer end panels 39 are short and do not meet, leaving a central aperture 40' which may serve as a ventilation aperture. The length of the panels is preset by adjustment of the stop 30 in FIG. 17. I

What is claimed is: 1. The method of making'a carton blank from a sheet of double faced corrugated board which'comprises the steps of folding a sheet of said board along lateral collapsing fold lines which extend in the direction of the corrugations to form a collapsed flat tubular structure;

securing together opposite lateral portions of the folded sheet to form a seam;

andperforming at the four corners of the flat tubular structure combined creasing and slitting operations, the operation at each corner comprising,

impressing intothe tubular structure from opposite sides a pair of creases substantially in the shape of a T, the head of the T extending transverse to the corrugation, the stem of the T being in the direction of the corrugations, and slitting the blank through both of its thicknesses above the head of the T substantially in line with the stem of the T to the edge of the blank. 2. The method of making a carton ready for filling and closing from a sheet of double faced corrugated board which comprises the steps of folding a sheet of said board along lateral collapsing fold lines which extend in the direction of the corrugations to form a collapsed flat tubular structure;

securing together opposite lateral portions of the folded sheet to form a seam;

performing at the four corners of the flat tubular structure combined creasing and slitting operations, the operation at each corner comprising impressing into the tubular structure from opposite sides a pair of creases substantially in the shape of a T, the head of the T extending transverse to the corrugation, the stern of the T being in the direction of the corrugations,

I and slitting the blank through both of its thicknesses above the head of the T substantially in line with the stern of the T to the edge of the blank;

squaring the tubular structure by folding it at the crease lines representing the stems of the respective Ts, and flattening it at the lateral collapsing fold lines;

and folding the ends of the tubular structure into carton closing position, thereby also stiffening the structure against recollapsing along the said lateral fold lines.

- 3. The method of making a carton blank from a sheet of double faced corrugated board which comprises the steps of j a folding a sheet of said board along lateral collapsing fold lines which extend in the direction of the corrugations of form a collapsed flat tubular structure; securing together opposite lateral portions of the folded sheet to form a seam; l and performing at the four corners of the flat tubular 1 structure combined creasing and slitting operations, the operation at each corner comprising l impressing into the tubular structure from opposite sides a pair of creases substantially in the shape of a T, the head of the T extending transverse to the corrugation, the stern of the T being in the direction of the corrugations, and slitting the blank through both of its thicknesses above the head of the T substantially in line with the stem of the T to the edge of the blank, the distance of the stem of the T from the adjacent lateral collapsing fold line being substantially equal to the distance of the head of the T from the adjacent end of the tubular structure.

4. The method of making a carton ready for filling and closing from a sheet of double faced corrugated board which comprises the steps of l folding a sheet of said board along lateral collapsing fold lines which extend in the direction of the corrugations to form a collapsed flat tubular structure; securing together opposite lateral portions of the folded sheet to form a seam; performing at the four corners of the flat tubular structure combined creasing and slitting operations, the operation at each corner comprising impressing into the tubular structure from opposite sides a pair of creases substantially in the shape of a T, the head of the T extending transverse to the corrugation, the stem of the T being in the direction of the corrugations;

and slitting the blank through both of its thicki nesses above the head of the T substantially in line with the stem of the T to the edge of the blank,the distance of the stem of the T from the adjacent lateral collapsing fold line being substantially equal to the distance of the head of the T from the adjacent end of the tubular structure; squaring the tubular structure by folding it at the crease 5 lines representing the stems of the respective Ts, and flattening the structure at the lateral collapsing fold line; i and folding the ends of the tubular structure into carton closing position, thereby also stiffening the structure against recollapsing at the said lateral fold lines.

5. The method of making a carton blank from a sheet of double faced corrugated board which comprises the steps of folding a sheet of said board upon itself and securing together the lateral edges of the sheet'to form a collapsed flat tubular structure in which the corrugations run lengthwise of the tube;

and performing at the four corners of the flat tubular structure combined creasing and slitting operations, the operation at each corner comprising impressing into the tubular structure from opposite sides a pair of creases substantially in the shape of a T, the head of'the T extending transverse to the corrugations, the stern of the T being in the direction of the corrugations, and slitting the blank through both of its thicknesses above the head of the T substantially in line with the stern of the T to the edge of the blank. it i 6. The method of making acarton ready for filling and closing from a sheet of double faced corrugated board which comprises the steps of,

folding a sheet of said board upon itself and securing together the lateral edges of the sheet to form a collapsed flat tubular structure in which the corrugations run lengthwise of the tube; performing at the four corners of the flat tubular structure combined creasing and slitting operations, the operation at each corner comprising impressing into the tubular structure from opposite sides a pair of creases substantially in the shape of a T, the head of the T extending transverse to the corrugations, the stem of the T being in the direction of the corrugations, and slitting the blank through both of its thicknesses above the head of the T substantially in line with the stern of the T to the edge of the blank; squaring the tubular structure by folding it at the crease lines representing the stems of the respective Ts, and flattening it at the lateral fold lines along which the tube was collapsed; and folding the ends of the tubular structure into carton closing position, thereby also stiffening the structure against recollapsing along the said lateral fold lines. 7. The method of converting a piece of flat collapsed tubular corrugated box board whose corrugations run 60 lengthwise of the tube into a carton blank ready for squaring into carton shape, filling and closing, the method comprising,

performing at the four corners of the piece creasing and slitting operations, the operation at each corner comprising impressing from opposite sides into the two thicknesses of the piece male creasing elements to produce, in each thickness, two folding creases substantially in the shape of a T, the two Ts being in register, the head of each T extending transverse to the corrugations, the stem of each T being in the direction of the corrugations; and slitting the piece through both of its thicknesses above the head of the Ts substantially 7 in line with the stem of the Ts to the edge of the piece.

8, The method of converting a piece of fiat collapsed tubular corrugated box board whose corrugations run lengthwise of the tube into a carton blank ready for squaring into carton shape, filling and closing, the method comprising performing at the four corners of the piece, one at a time, creasing and slitting operations, the operations ateach corner comprising impressing from opposite sides into the two thicknesses of the piece male creasing elements to produce, in each thickness, two folding creases substantially in the shape of a T, the two Ts being in register, the head of each T extending transverse to the corrugations and at, a certain distance from the adjacent end of the piece, the stern of each T being in the direction of the corrugations and at a distance from the adjacent lateral edge of the piece equal to said certain distance;

and slitting the piece through both-of its thick-' nesses above the head of the T substantially in line with the stem of the T to the edge of the piece. a 9. That method of making a carton from fiat collapsed tubular double faced corrugated box board stock which is characterized by the steps of first cutting a piece of tubular stock to length; then performing at the four corners of the piece, one at a time, creasing and slitting operations, the opera tion at each corner comprising impressing from opposite sides into the two thicknesses of the piece male creasing rulesto produce, in each thickness, two folding creases substantially in the shape of'a T, the two Ts being in register, the head of each T extending transverse to' the corrugations,-the stem'of the T being in the direction of the corrugations, and slitting the piece through both of its thicknesses above the head of the Ts substantially in line with the stem of the Ts to the edge of the piece;

then squaring the creased and slotted piece by folding it at the crease lines which represent the stems of the Ts and flattening the piece at the collapsing creases along which the two thicknesses of the tubular stock were folded flat upon each other;

. and then folding the portions of the piece between the crease lines representing the heads of the Ts and the ends of the piece into carton closing position as carton end flaps.

10. The method of making a folding carton blank out of double faced corrugated box board which comprises,

folding the corrugated board upon itself to form a double thickness structure in which the corrugations extend lengthwise of the structure, at least one of the lateral edges of the structure being a fold line;

impressing at the four corners of the structure from opposite sides of the double thickness structure a pair of folding scores extending at right angles to each other, each such impression being adjacent a corner of the structure and being so disposed that one score extends from a lateral edge of the structure at least partially across the structure transverse to thet corrugations and at a certain distance from the end of the structure, and that the other score extends from said one score in the direction of the corrugations at least partially the length of the structure and at a distance from the adjacent lateral edge equal'to said certain distance;

'and slitting the structure through both of its thicknesses from the right angle point of the scores to the adjacent end of the structure, the slit being in the direction of the corrugations.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Ford et a1. Mar. 5, 

1. THE METHOD OF MAKING A CARTON BLANK FROM A SHEET OF DOUBLE FACED CORRUGATED BOARD WHICH COMPRISES THE STEPS OF FOLDING A SHEET OF SAID BOARD ALONG LATERAL COLLAPSING FOLD LINES WHICH EXTEND IN THE DIRECTION OF THE CORRUGATIONS TO FORM A COLLAPSED FLAT TUBULAR STRUCTURE; SECURING TOGETHER OPPOSITE LATERAL PORTIONS OF THE FOLDED SHEET TO FORM A SEAM; AND PERFORMING AT THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE FLAT TUBULAR STRUCTURE COMBINED CREASING AND SLITTING OPERATIONS, THE OPERATION AT EACH CORNER COMPRISING, IMPRESSING INTO THE TUBULAR STRUCTURE FROM OPPOSITE SIDES A PAIR OF CREASES SUBSTANTIALLY IN THE SHAPE OF A T, THE HEAD OF THE T EXTENDING TRANSVERSE TO THE CORRUGATION, THE STEM OF THE T BEING IN THE DIRECTION OF THE CORRUGATION, AND SLITTING THE BLANK THROUGH BOTH OF ITS THICKNESSES ABOVE THE HEAD OF THE T SUBSTANTIALLY IN LINE WITH THE STEM OF THE T TO EDGE OF THE BLANK. 